•What IBADAN People Don’t Know About Him
Engineer Seyi Makinde is the newly elected Governor of Oyo State under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Come May 29, 2019, he will be sworn in as governor of the pacesetter state. His political story and victory at the poll could be well attributed to perseverance and tenacity. City People’s Correspondent, Dare Adeniran gives you 60 interesting things you don’t know about Engr. Seyi Abiodun Makinde who is popularly known as ‘Omituntun’. Since he was declared winner of the just concluded guber election in the state by INEC, his victory has generated a lot of excitement in the state and expectations of the people are very high. Just like Seyi Makinde has built himself into a big brand, he has since promised to build Oyo State into a bigger brand.
(1) At exactly 10.20 p.m on Sunday March 10, 2019, Engr. Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde was declared Governor-elect of Oyo State. He won under his party PDP’s umbrella with a total of 515,621 votes, beating his close rival from APC Chief Bayo Adelabu who polled 357,982 votes.
(2) He was born to a middle class parents of late Pa Olatunbosun Makinde and Mrs. Abigail Makinde of Aigbofa Compound, Oja’ba in Ibadan in 1967.
(3) He was born at Oluyoro Catholic Hospital on December 25, 1968 and grew up at Isale-Alfa, behind Adeoyo State Hospital.
(4) He attended 2 primary schools; St. Pauls Primary School and St. Michael Primary School, both at Yemetu, Ibadan.
(5) After his primary school, the father prevented him from going to Akanran Community Grammar School, which is closer to their village, Ajia (the present headquarters of Ona-Ara Local Government) because he didn’t want him to be a village boy.
(6) Right from his childhood, he has been a great lover of Sports. In fact, he wanted to be a professional footballer by playing for Water Corporation then, but his father kicked against such because he (the father) was a big fan of Shooting Stars and that brought his football career to an end.
(7) He still plays Golf and Long Tennis.
(8) He entered secondary school, Bishop Philips Academy, Monatan, Ibadan, at the age of 13 in 1980.
(9) He gained admission to study Electrical Engineering at University of Lagos in 1985. He graduated with best result in the history of the school at age of 22 in 1990.
(10) Makinde did his mandatory one year National Service (NYSC) in Porthacourt, at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) between 1990 and 1992.
(11) He thereafter worked for 7 years as Field Engineer at (Eket Operation) for Rebold International Limited and later Field Manager of the company between 1992 and 1997.
(12) He established his own company, Makon Engineering Limited and Technical Services (METS) in 1997.
(13) He used the first set of money he made from the business to build a Computer Centre at Bishop Philips Academy, which was commissioned in year 2000.
(14) Though he was not into friends in the secondary school but some of his mates include Biodun Oni, Lateef Odepo and Co.
(15) He met his wife, Tamunominini, in Porthacourt while he was serving as a youth corper and they got married after seven and half years of courtship. Their marriage is blessed with three children; two girls and a boy.
(16) His first daughter was born at the British Memorial Hospital, Porthacourt. She was named Feyi.
(17) While growing up he thought he was being cheated by getting gift once in a year during Christmas, which is his birthday while other kids get gift twice a year, during their birthdays and Christmas.
(18) Seyi Makinde’s father was meant to be a meat seller at ‘Atenda Olajide’ but strived hard with the help of his own mother to send himself to school and later became a primary school teacher after his Standard 6 education. He was later to become a Chartered Banker without going to any secondary school.
(20) He is a family man to the core, a disciplined father but he believes the best tactic to groom his children is through continuous engagement and deliberation, not by forcing things on them.
(21) Typically of parents in those days, his father wanted him to be a medical doctor but he had flare for engineering. So for him to have his way, he had to deliberately didn’t do well in Biology in his School Cert. He had A1 in Mathematics, A1 in Physics, A2 in Chemistry but scored C4 in Biology.
(22) The frequent story he used to hear from his dad about how one should pursue his ambition and determination to be great in life, was Sinbad the Sailor.
(23) He learnt the act of being honest, open and compassion from his father.
(24) In his last moment on earth, his father handed over his ATM card to him and told him the pin in case he didn’t make it. Guess what? The balance in the account was 50,000. He didn’t have much but was at peace and contented with what he was able to achieve in life. That is why Seyi Makinde loves and cherishes his late dad.
(25) Seyi Makinde graduated from UNILAG at the age of 22 in 1990 and bought his first car by 24.
(26) He is the third born of the family.
(27) His ambition to govern Oyo State has always been driven by the believe that with the instrument of government he can do much more than he has done as a private man and a philanthropist.
(28) Sometime in 2017 while speaking about being tested as a politician, he predicted that the 2019 election was not going to be about parties, but about individuals; character, what they have to offer and their antecedents.
(29) As a family man, he loves to grill barbecue for his family whenever they get together.
(30) His major weakness is that he is too trusting. He believes every normal person should fulfil his part in every deal.
(31) His first daughter was named Feyi because they were expecting a boy and he wanted to name the child after himself “Seyi”. But when it turned out to be a girl he changed the first letter of name ‘S’ to ‘F’.
(32) In 1997, after his youth corp service and working for seven years Engr. Seyi Makinde established Makon Engineering Limited with four people and built it to what it is today. With thousands of staff and branches in major cities of the country.
(33) He loves to take risks and that has been the secret of his success in both politics and his private life.
(34) As rich and as exposed Seyi Makinde is, he likes to eat Corn so much.
(35) He is a free mixer and picks his friends. In fact, it is hard to know his closest friends; his family and people around him are the closest persons to him.
(36) He never panics no matter the situation.
(37) He is caring, lovable and warm. People’s problems are his problem.
(38) He appreciates and knows how to spot talents. He also understands how to groom them for the betterment of themselves and the society.
(39) He likes Football and Tennis.
(40) His favourite international sport personalities are Nadar and Serena Williams.
(41) At home, his favourite football team is Shooting Stars and on the international scene he is a big fan of Mourinho; any club Mourinho goes to, he supports.
(42) As a sport man, he is also a marathoner.
(43) His strongest character traits are that he strives for perfection. Also, he practices what he preaches. He has inner strength, wisdom and courage in troubling times and hopes for common man. He has remarkable strength no matter how bad the situation is.
(44) He never plays victim but a champion. His challenges spur him to achieve more. He never gives way to despair.
(45) He abhors desperation. He plays balanced politics. He discusses issues. He abhors do or die politics. He hates contentions, trifles, crisis and never holds grudges.
(46) Family relationship to him is not biological. He has several adopted sons and daughters and treats his friends, irrespective of their status, with respect.
(47) He believes in hard work, integrity and credibility. He never compromises on these qualities and looks for them in people.
(48) He set high standard for himself and achieves his target and he his maintaining his standard. He is in his own world. He believes one can get to the top, live right with hard-work, and strong family.
(49) He loves to make things better than he meets them. He his pro-active and has strong convictions.
(50) His philosophy of life ‘’Do on to others what you want them to do on to you’’ and ‘’Always have the fear of God’’.
(51) His children are well cultured; the first daughter is 21, second is 19 while their kid brother is 13.
(52) In his own case, he teaches people how to fish and at the same time gives them fish.
(53) He is a simple dresser but handsome and colourful. His favourite outfit is natives. He loves Jeans and T shirt as casuals.
(54) He is not a car frick. He used to drive GMC truck but seems to have fallen in love with Hyundai products lately.
(55) He an Automation and expert in fluid and Gas Metering, Engr, Seyi Makinde is very wealthy. He has made cool money from the Oil and Gas sector before his forray into politics.
(56) His political journey is an interesting one, In 2007, Makinde contested Oyo South Senatorial seat under the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) but lost to PDP’s candidate then who is the son of the late garrison commander of Oyo politics Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, Kamorudeen.
(57) In 2010, he aspired for the Oyo South Senatorial seat ticket in the 2011, but lost the primary to the then incumbent senator, Kamorudeen Adedibu.
(58) He wanted to contest for the 2015 governorship election under PDP but was denied the ticket. Which made him to defect to SDP, where he contested and lost to the outgoing governor of the state.
(59) After the 2015 election, he was persuaded alongside other aggrieved members who had left the PDP to come back. He later re-joined the party from where he contested the 2019 guber election and won.
(60) Ironically, Seyi Makinde has come back to the party where he started his political career from to achieve his ambition of rulling Oyo State.
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